Here Comes the Garbage Barge! by Jonah Winter

I also kept thinking that while this one barge kept floating around, more and more garbage was being generated from everywhere, so what was the point. Combined with an unsettling story about garbage that no one wants, and a solution which was, frankly, awful, I was definitely dismayed. But the people are uncanny enough to be unsettling. The artwork is brilliant and the time spent making this book had to have been incredible. This is one of those books which kinds of creeps me out though I'm not entirely sure why. As I said, I can really appreciate the effort here, I just didn't really 'like' it, personal taste. I do think this book will really appeal to some children, especially those who like looking at real objects in art.

The resulting fiasco garnered media attention and is credited with being a factor in increasing the recycling movement. However, the garbage barge was turned away at every port! The city of Islip had no more room to bury their garbage and when some businessmen came to them with the offer of taking the garbage and burying it down south (a much cheaper option than the others presented to them), it seemed like the answer. The characters looked a little creepy/weird for my tastes.Īs for the story, well, it was very interesting to hear about the 'Garbage Barge' fiasco of 1987 in which a garbage barge left Long Island carrying nearly thirty-two hundred tons of garbage. I must say that, while I appreciated the illustrations and found them very creative (Red Nose Studio 'puts garbage to good use-by making art out of it!') I really was not a fan. I'd heard some 'buzz' about the illustrations in the book but really didn't know what the story was about. I'm having trouble getting over the fact that a barge filled with garbage is so much more well-traveled than I am! This is a fun read for everyone, though the younger set may have trouble believing it actually happened it seems so far-fetched now.

How can you not laugh about something like this? Red Nose Studio's strange blend of model-making and clay-mation-like puppets suit Winter's tale perfectly.Īnd, I love all the little details, like these sisters being dressed alike: This little slice of recent history is told with heaping doses of humor. If you think this seems like strange fodder for a children's book, you'd be right. For 162 days, the garbage barge floated around, looking for a place to land. The same story was told in New Orleans, and any other of the port cities the barge visited. BUT, when the barge arrived at those sunny shores, the deal had fallen through, and the rubbish was not welcome there.

It's destination? North Carolina, where it had been prearranged for some farmers to bury the garbage on their farms. In March of 1987, a barge left Islip, Long Island, hauling almost thirty-two hundred tons of trash.

Here Comes the Garbage Barge! by Jonah Winter